Quest:A Cave on the Moor
General Information Part of AAM 2011. The GM has stated it will be available for all adventurers afterwards, but without the special AAM rewards. Tips * It's a long dungeon crawl (one of the largest dungeons so far). Making things in the correct order will make it much quicker and easier. * Get your Goblindoom out of storage, and maybe an anti-undead weapon, but only if you're low level. * You can get out to rest and save, up to the point where you complete the disc. * First thing to do is drying the place. * Based on several hours worth of 'test-crawling' this cave, it seems that both the random encounters with various goblin foes (scouts, hunters, warriors), and the likelihood of them carrying respectable amounts of loot (of a likewise respectable quality) increases after the cave passages are drained and encounters with muck-inhabiting Submerged beasties cease. (Supposedly the goblins have been kept at bay by the presence of that submerged threat prior to the draining of the cave's corridors.) However, the number of these encounters appears to be finite. Prerequisites All previous encounters of the Adventurer Appreciation Month 2011 Map ;Legend * E''': Dungeon entrance/exit * m: pool of muck - later removed to become standard dungeon field * '''gg: Goblin group - ambushes of goblins. * B''': Basin/boulder - Trigger to remove the muck * '''C1-C7: Cages containing regular loot * D': Dead ends, nothing to do although they are marked with ''? on the in-game map * '''S1: Cage containing the first half of the scroll * A''': Crude stone altar * '''GS: Goblins and Spiders encounter (one-time and optional) * G''': Goblin guards * '''S2: Chest containing the second and final part of the scroll Text Directions ;From the entrance to the boulder * East 5 (times), South 1, East 2, South 1, East 2, North 3, East 2 ;From the boulder to the first half of the scroll * South 2, East 1, South 1 ;From the first half to the altar * North 1, West 3, South 1, West 2, North 3 ;From the altar to the entrance * South 2, West 2, North 1, West 5 ;From the entrance to the second half of the scroll * East 5, North 5, East 1, North 2, West 1, North 2, West 2, North 2, East 3, North 1, East 2, South 1, East 2, North 1, East 2, South 1, East 2 (guards), North 1 (Chest) Walkthrough ;Summary * Move the boulder to remove the muck ('m') tiles. * Get the first half of the scroll * Go to the altar and defeat the goblin shaman to get his amulet * Go to the locked chest and USE the amulet to receive the completed disc (you can get out of the cave at any moment before you do this) * Get out of cave to get the final rewards. Beginning As soon as you enter the Loch Leap Alehouse in Tryndmoor, you are met by "a middle-aged woman, her long, greying hair tied into a single braid". She's Irisyl, the pathfinder you were looking for. She reveals you that the cave you're heading for is inhabited by , and that your mutual friend Greebren is a direct descendant of Gripmaul. You both get into the road early the next morning. As you traverse a vast bog, you must roll a . However, if you fail... * You loose footing and start to sink. You can use Conjuration/Elementalism (50+) or a to let Irisyl attempt to rescue you with a rope. ** With Conjuration you create a wooden plank you use to exit the bog. 32 XP to Conjuration. You then continue as if nothing happened. ** With Elementalism, you summon a powerful water elemental that gets you out. 32 XP to Elementalism. You continue as if nothing happened. ** If you pass the check, Irisyl rescues you with her rope. If you fail, you swallow a mouthful of muck, and lose ~5 SP. After a little while, you fall to a goblin ambush. Irisyl falls to a dart, and you are alone against 11 goblins (you only need to fight 7 times) . After you've dispatched them, you discover Irisyl is dying from the effects of the venom which coated the tip of the dart that struck her in the neck. Irisyl's last words are cryptic: "When you next see Greebren... tell him it was the seventh one. Don't forget that...the seventh one." You take care of burying her in the swamp according to her own pleading request, and then proceed, alone, to your destination. At last you arrive there... to The Cave on the Moor The Cave From this place, you can travel at will until you've completed the scenario by getting the final item. You can also "Rest Nearby" (restores full SP) but it's equally quick and easy to go back to your nearer location (Tryndmoor) and fully rest to recover NV. To go back you can travel to "A Cave on the Moor", a temporary location (it won't remain accessible after the quest is completed) nearby Tryndmoor. On entering the cave, you start the dungeon (see map above). You can enter and exit at will through the "E" tile (Southwestern side) ;Encounters You can find random encounters with lone goblins * Very few of them will have loot on them, and when they do, it's very little. (However, see note regarding these encounters under Tips above.) You can also encounter groups of 3 to 5 goblins. * Each of the groups will give you 32 General XP if you defeat them * There are 6 of them and they are in fixed locations (marked gg on the map). * Each group is comprised of one of the "lone goblin" varieties, in addition to 2-4 Goblin Warriors with approximately the same stats (slightly variable). You can't flee from the first goblin in the group, the second has a variable number of turns required to flee, and you can flee from the rest at the second combat round. * If you flee from a group you won't encounter it again. Drying the cave The dungeon has several corridors, and a full section, swamped with muck. These muck tiles have a high probability of greeting you with a . To stop these encounters from happening and speed your way through the dungeon (although you can complete your mission without doing it), you should go to the Boulder location (SouthEastern side, in the middle of the muck). As soon as you step on the Basin/Boulder tile, you confront . If you flee from this battle (there is a cryptic reference to your woodsmanship ability, it's unknown what happens if you don't have it), an unknown predator will dispatch your foe for you, and you will be able to return to the boulder (if you defeat the Cave Crawler, you remain where you are, naturally). To deal with the boulder, you have the option to use Elementalism/Shadow Magic/Telekinesis (60+) to move it, or attempt a . If you move it, no matter how (keep in mind you only have this one chance) all tiles with muck will be dry, and you won't find Submerged Creatures again. You're rewarded with 32 specific XP to the Power used, or with 32 General Experience points if you chose and passed the random check. Looting Around the perimeter of the cave there are 8 cages you can search. Seven of them contain normal loot (although in abundance) and if you go on collecting everything, you will probably need to get out to sell things. You can plunder them in any order you want. One of them, however (marked S1 on the map, Southeastern corner) contains the next part of the mission, a . This item will unlock the second part of the quest. You will receive 64 General XP when you get it. The goblin shaman Now turn your attention to the spot marked A''' on the map (middle of Southern side). There you will find a stone altar. If you go there before you have the torn scroll, nothing will happen. Afterwards, you will meet a curious figure: a fur-clad goblin shaman with a bent, wooden staff. He mutters some enchantment and you must pass a He then summons a total of 14 skeletal goblins. You can use Necromancy (70+) for 32 specific XP and destroy half of them before facing the rest, but as they have a fixed XP reward, it advantageous to fight them all in melee, if you're able to last them (you can use Restoration between fights). The sequence starts with but your fights become gradually harder as each subsequent foe is stronger, possessing more SP, until the last one, which is . After the summoned undead goblins, you fight the . Don't relax, though, for after he's dead, he rises, and returns as an . You get 128 General XP for defeating this enemy. You also get his amulet: Goblins and spiders This encounter (marked as '''GS in the map, NorthEastern corner) is completely optional, and also the hardest one in the dungeon. You find four goblins surrounded by six large, black spiders. You can: * Watch the battle: The spiders dispatch the goblins swiftly. You can then choose to retreat or attack the spiders. If you retreat the encounter ends, cannot be repeated. If you attack them you dispatch two of them and fight the other four one by one . If you kill the spiders this way, you also receive 64 extra General XP. * Attack the spiders: the goblins flee, you kill one spider and fight the other 5 as a group * Attack the goblins: ''' You kill the goblins and fight the 6 spiders as a group * '''Retreat: You can come back later to have this encounter. As you can see, there is no special reward for the harder fights (except a little more combat XP), so you might as well pick the easy route (watch, then attack). The chest On the final part Northeastern corner you will find four goblin guards: . After you dispatch them you can approach the chest. USE your . You get 128 General XP and a second , plus 123-186 gold. You immediately lose both parts of the scroll and the three s, and get the . You get another 256 General XP. After this moment, you can keep exploring the cave and getting loot (both from the cages and from random encounters), but if you exit the cave, you'll go back to Tryndmoor to get your final reward. Completion On your return to Tryndmoor, you will receive: * 1024 General XP * 128 AS&P XP Rewards * The * Great amounts of loot * 1792 General XP if you use all sources * 128 AS&P XP * ~200 gold * ~536 Combat XP, provided you fight everything. * The stays with you and becomes droppable at the end of the quest. Its value is 1,000 gold. Its future use (if any) is unknown.